• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Castle Vale

Marri0tt said:
Lived on the Vale in various locations.77/8 Vulcan house 79/80 Cadbury Drive before moving back to Kingstanding.Came back 83/6 living in Pioneer House before once again moving back to Kingstanding.Have cousins who have lived in Kenrick croft since about 71.
Loved the place, always felt it had a reputation it didn't deserve.
Click to expand...
Used to work on Kingsbury Rd in the eighties and used to pop into the Lancaster and another pub nearby that was definitely a bit dodgy. The old shopping centre had some interesting shops but never seemed fully occupied, there was a dentist in there whose sole aim in life seemed to be to fill every tooth in my head:unconscious: i still have all my own teeth btw. I also had one of me ears pierced in the afore mentioned shopping centre:uncomfortableness::courage:. Concord Tower at the front always seemed a bit rough in my opinion:black_eyed: but it amazed me that the odd blocks here and there remained half way decent.
 
Used to drink in the 'Skylark'.The 'Lancaster' always seemed decent; so did the 'Trees'.Avoided the'Trade Winds' and 'the 'Artful Dodger' - both really "Moody" pubs.
 
AstonGazz
Thanks for the photos of The Trees. I went in this pub in 1973 on a Canal holiday so must have crossed over the main road to
get to it from the tow-path. Would you please let me know exactly where it was and what if anything has replaced it. Cheers
 
Hi Alan, I can answer this question for you, the Trees was at the junction of Manby Road and Insworth Drive, you would have left the towpath by the Cincinnati Factory, the moorings were behind the Drome Café which is still there. There are now houses on this site. Regards
 
Thanks very much Valeboy,
Just looked at a map, and that all makes perfect sense. We would have moored
up just before the lock for a lunch time pint.
 
Hello Alan, Valeboy is right the bridge you moored by was Hansons bridge between the cinncinati and schweeps pop factory warehouse.we used to play around there as kids we used to cross the bridge to hansons bridge road to get to pype hayes park about half a mile away often went into the drome café for some chips next door was harry overton the betting shop the good old days.
 
I worked at the Schweppes factory from 1981 until it closed in 1989. I used to live in RAF dwellings the old RAF houses that backed onto the other row on the Chester Road. Those were dark days on the Vale, I remember walking to work past burned out cars,. Some poor soul was stabbed to death in the block of flats near our house. I moved to Castle Bromwich shortly after.
 
tayrich said:
I worked at the Schweppes factory from 1981 until it closed in 1989. I used to live in RAF dwellings the old RAF houses that backed onto the other row on the Chester Road. Those were dark days on the Vale, I remember walking to work past burned out cars,. Some poor soul was stabbed to death in the block of flats near our house. I moved to Castle Bromwich shortly after.
Click to expand...

Wasn't there a pool at the Schweppes factory known as 'Pikes Pool' ? The source of many a rumour to the size of this mystery fish !
 
I was the outdoor advertising manager there in 1973-6.
There was a young lad drowned in the pool whilst swimming, I'll never forget when the police brought his parents into the canteen to break the bad news, he was with 2 other lads who survived.
 
Pewster said:
Wasn't there a pool at the Schweppes factory known as 'Pikes Pool' ? The source of many a rumour to the size of this mystery fish !
Click to expand...

The pool was on the other side of the fence to the factory. It is part of Plantsbrook nature reserve, still accessible now. It was I believe once an old gravel pit, hence very deep.
 
The pool you are referring to was once one of the reservoirs that supplied Birmingham's water, before it was piped in from Wales. I may be wrong but I don't think it was a gravel pit or particulary deep. I recall in the 1960's one of my friends swimming across it. Sooner him than me. As my house overlooked the reservoir I spent a lot of time playing in the fields and spinney that were there.
I know it has been mentioned before but there is a great website BRITAIN FROM ABOVE. On that sight type in MOSS GEAR. It was a factory behind the Tyburn Public House. There are clear photographs of its construction in the 1920's together with the surrounding area. Mostly fields, amazing how it has all changed. The website has other photographs of B'ham. Aston Chain and Hook on Bromford Lane springs to mind.
 
jennyann said:
Bit more about the Pype Hayes Reservoir on Bill Darque's site. My brother and I used to go to the area in the l950's to
collect clay to make models with. Much better accessibility these days though. https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-p/pype-hayes/
Click to expand...

That is a very interesting web site you refer to. Thanks for bringing it to attention.
Do you recall that awful area, near the pools, that was all grey and slimey? It was some sort of industrial waste that had been dumped there. As kids we steered clear of it.
Steve
 
Hi, does anyone remember the tunnel where they used to keep the war ammunition guns etc. remember cycling in it!!! we used to have a great time anyone got any photos? Squizz
 
A great little audio snippet of Castle Brom Aerodrome here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01rj3b1

Didn't know that some of the main roads of Castle Vale were the runways when it was an aerodrome. Sad piece in the audio clip about an Australian airman who died in a flying accident and commemorated at the church in Curdworth and there's some ex- RAF houses still in Church Road. Viv.
 
​To follow post 91
 

Attachments

  • 13th September 2014 Saturday 048.jpg
    13th September 2014 Saturday 048.jpg
    430.3 KB · Views: 21
  • 13th September 2014 Saturday 049.jpg
    13th September 2014 Saturday 049.jpg
    464.5 KB · Views: 21
  • 13th September 2014 Saturday 050.jpg
    13th September 2014 Saturday 050.jpg
    292.2 KB · Views: 18
  • 13th September 2014 Saturday 051.jpg
    13th September 2014 Saturday 051.jpg
    377.5 KB · Views: 19
  • 13th September 2014 Saturday 057.jpg
    13th September 2014 Saturday 057.jpg
    599.3 KB · Views: 21
Thanks very, very much for posting those Dave! I was only thinking I'd love to go and see the memorial in the church. I'd like to research them for the IWM 'Lives of WW1' project. Would you mind if I used your photos to put on the IWM site please? Is so, I'll acknowledge them as yours. Think it will be very interesting to look into the lives of those airmen. Viv.
 
I've just found out there are several airmen commemorated at St Mary and St Margaret's, Castle Brom too. Some were a result of flying accidents too. So this will make a very interesting task for me. Most of them were obviously not Birmingham born (I think one airman was) but they are still very much part of its history. Extremely sad though, as some of the airmen were a mere 19 years old. Will probably start a separate thread about them if I can gather together the information. Viv.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Born in 1970, Erdington living (with parents) first in Chester road near the Yenton junction....then a move to Ryland Road off Erdington Hall road then to a high rise flat on Castle Vale called Comet House (over the road from the Skylark pub where my mother worked) 1972-1975 .... I went to St Gerards nursery & primary school .... move then to Bagington Road, Castle Vale until 1979!

Used to Visit my Granddad a lot on Witton Lodge Road (no. 355 i think)...just down from the Spinney at the top where the bus terminated.... remember the last of the old buses with the opening at the back and the conductors! ... also the Leopard pub.

Moved then to Holly Lane, Erdington within some nice block of 3 story flats opposite Holly Lane social Club...went to St Edmund Campion secondary School until 1983 then finally moved to Erdington Hall Road until 1997 when I left home to live in Wales.

Mother worked in the Norton Public House from 1979 until it was pulled down....

Hated School but loved the time after from 1985..... BMX bikes and CB radio! Long time in Brum and a lot seen :)

Simon.
 
Looking in greater depth at the Castle Vale area on a map I was surprised to find that virtually all the roads, large and small, were named after Royal Air Force bases or had a connection with aircraft.
Many of those RAF Stations are now gone - reverted to farmland or become industrial areas - however their names now seem immortalized in that area of Birmingham. A fitting tribute given that much war production took place there. but I am sure that was why the planners chose those names.
 
When the Topcliffe Tower Block on Castle Vale was refurbished, the original name plate from the tower somehow found it's way to RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire and was placed before the Control Tower. The camp has since become Alanbrooke Barracks and the block on Castle Vale is now simply named 'Topcliffe'.
topcliffetower.jpg
 
Aston houses were being demolished. We moved to Castle Vale from 67/70. I lived at 21 Turnhouse Road, we didn't live long we went back to the Newtown. I attended Topcliffe school. My elder sisters attended the Comp. Me and my brother went to Topcliffe, younger sister went to Pegasus. On my way to school I passed the shop on the corner of Innsworth Drive, it belonged to the Gibson family.
 
Hi Irene. The last time I was there was in about 1980. used to catch the #64 up Tangemere Drive to Reid Square. Tangemere Drive was dominated by the long row of tower blocks. Was amazed to see most of these have now gone (according to the link in post #81). Think there were a couple of suicides from those blocks. But local authorities learned lessons from these and blocks at such a height are no longer built.

The other thing I remember about CV is I found it quite difficult to find my way around. A lot of similarity in the roads etc. As I understand it, in some parts new housing around squares have since been developed.

Going way back, my dad told me about the aircraft from the factory on Kingsbury Road which used to be wheeled across the road onto the airfield (later becoming the CV estate). In the 1970s I think there was still an old RAF house/building on the edge of the estate - near the canal side, going towards Tyburn House. Was wondering if it's still there. Viv.
 
Parker's school used to go to the airfield for their playing fields. I think this would have been from Cherrywood Road in Small Heath.
 
tayrich said:
I worked at the Schweppes factory from 1981 until it closed in 1989. I used to live in RAF dwellings the old RAF houses that backed onto the other row on the Chester Road. Those were dark days on the Vale, I remember walking to work past burned out cars,. Some poor soul was stabbed to death in the block of flats near our house. I moved to Castle Bromwich shortly after.
Click to expand...
hey tay rich,do you remember the wood family at 18 raf dwellings??
 
I remember there being a single house on the edge of Castle Vale, almost next to the canal (up from Tyburn House). Looked like it was built in about the 1930s. Would this have been an ex-RAF house ? It definitely wasn’t part of the Castle Vale estate development and would have been on the the very edge of the former airfield. The house was still there into the late 1970s/early 80s. Viv.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top